The 198th Games: Redemption (SYOT)
by platypus27
Summary: (SYOT OPEN 6/24) Another Hunger Games, Another 24 Tributes. Last Year Was Fastest And Bloodiest In Games History. What Will The Gamemakers Do To Change The Pace Of The Game? How Will The Unique Cast Of Tributes Deal With These Circumstances?
1. Chapter 1

District 7 Mentor Female

They say the first reaping is the hardest.

I've been sitting in the dark of my basement for the last several hours thinking of what comes next. I'll walk out onto the stage and sit in a row with the other victors from District 7, Oak and Jasper, who together won the 175th Quarter Quell as twins. I'll watch as our Escort walks out onto the stage, and delivers the same dull speech I've heard for the last who knows how many years. And I'll stare out into the crowd as two more children are chosen, and sent off into the same hell that I only just recently escaped.

My Games was historic. Not only was it the shortest Games ever, lasting only 5 days, It had the highest Cornucopia death toll ever recorded at 17. By the end of the first day, only district 1 and 2, along with the girl from 6, the boy from 8, and myself remained. My entire alliance was killed in the bloodbath, and I was left alone to explore the open grassy hills that made up the arena. I spent the next three days hiding, lamenting the loss of my friends.

I take a deep breath and open my eyes to stare into the darkness, simply to remind myself that I am still here, still alone. I made it through my games completely alone, up until the last second when I drove my axe into the neck of that district 1 boy. So alone I stay.

Last year, I went through hell. And this year, 24 more will do the same. And I will have to be the mentor of 2 them. I don't know how I'll manage, and I don't know how I can expect them too. All I know is that this year is going to be different. The other 23 are gone, and I am all that remains.

I stand up, and shake the chills that run up and down my spine.

"Time for the reaping"

Hey guys,

Most of you probably don't know me, but I've been shadowing this group for years now and finally decided to write my own SYOT. I'm hoping to update every week, and keep the introductory chapters fairly concise (The real juicy stuff is in the arena).

If you choose to submit a tribute, please put your best effort in! You can reserve a spot for 2 days before submitting so let me know who you want! (Submission form in my Bio)

And most importantly, remember to give your feedback on tributes and make your predictions as we go along!

Thx everyone, and let's have an amazing SYOT.


	2. Before the Reaping

**Hey guys, sorry for the wait! I am excited to present you with the first official chapter of our SYOT! I have decided that instead of the classic format where we cover the perspective of every tribute at every event, I will cover the perspective of only a select few in a more in depth way. By the time we get to training we should have seen 1 POV from every tribute!**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

 **District 9 Female: Alysanne Hartshaw, 17**

"FINISHING TIME, LINE UP FOR INSPECTION"

The familiar call brings sighs of relief from all around me. Today had been a brutal day of harvesting, the sun beating down and insects crawling all over us. I take my sweat drenched gloves off one by one and drop them in the pile beginning to form in the dirt. I stand up and get in line next to the other workers and mimic their stance: Hands over the head, legs slightly spread, as we always did for inspection. The clomping of boots in the dirt tells us that our supervisors have arrived, and we take a collective deep breath.

Three men in white uniforms arrive and stand before us, eyeing us up and down. Then, they pat us down one by one. The rough hands of one of the man feel over my entire body before they are satisfied that I haven't taken a single stalk of grain, or perhaps a harvesting tool. As the inspector passes me on I let go of my breath, feeling the familiar relief that comes with knowing you have gotten through the day. The Three men line back up in front of us, and one of them gives us the order.

"Exit the field in an orderly fashion, any further harvesting of the crops will been seen as a crime".

Those beautiful words are all I need to hear, and I begin walking towards the gate, perhaps a little quicker than I ought to be. I walk straight past the rows of unharvested wheat, past the other workers ending their shifts, and through the barbed wire fence that separates me from the rest of the district. The moment I am out of range of the security cameras, I begin running down the dirt road that will lead me to my family.

My family consists of my parents, myself, and my three younger sisters, Rosalind, Lycora, and Juno. Each of my sisters is wonderful in their own way, together they are my best friends in the world. Thinking of them makes me remember that I promised I would grab something special for dinner tonight, so I make a quick turn into town, instead of into my residential area. I run past rows of shops until I arrive at my destination. I step inside the local bakery and head straight to the counter where I can talk to the store owner, who is currently cleaning sweeping up in the back.

"Hi Tom", I say as I walk towards him, slightly out of breath from my run. He looks from his sweeping to see me, and gives me a wide smile. "Hello Miss Hartshaw, are you here for your order". I nod in affirmation, and he reaches under the counter, revealing a brown package wrapped with a yellow bow. I thank him and grab the package before heading to the door. But before I can leave, Tom calls to me, "Goodbye Miss Hartshaw, and may the odds be ever in your favour".

I don't reply, simply nodding before I once again begin running through the streets of our town, this time to head home. This year I took out as many tesserae as I could. Without them, my family and my sisters could never survive. I can't imagine what my sisters would do without me, and to honest I can't imagine what I would do without them. The odds truly would have to be in my favor, otherwise my family, the thing I love most in the world, might fall apart.

 **District 7 Male: Leonis Rankit, 16**

I've never been what people would call a 'good student'. In fact, I've never been what people would classify as a student. For that to happen I would have to attend class more than once a week, or perhaps finish an assignment or two. This is why I find myself in detention for what must be the 1 millionth time, staring at the clock as it slowly ticks away, waiting to be let out so I can go do what I really want to do. However today I won't be waiting for my teacher to let me out of detention once I've completed whatever task I've been assigned to complete, I will be waiting for the arrival of my friend Tark.

The teacher looks up at me from behind her desk. "You better have started your essay by now Leonis, if you don't finish today it will be detention again tomorrow!" she says condescendingly. So I guess I'm supposed to be working on an essay of some sorts, who would have known. I simply glare at her, before turning to look back up at the clock: 3:30. Right on cue, a knock comes at the door to the classroom. The teacher stands and walks over to the door, giving me another look and an exasperated sigh as she passes, seeing nothing has been written on my paper. She swings the door open, and there in all his glory, is Tark, clutching his chest and bending over at the knees.

"Hello Mrs. Chambers", Tark gasps, feigning exhaustion. "I came to fetch you immediately, there's a fight in yard, somebody brought a knife, and I think there are some young kids involved" Without a second thought Mrs. Chambers, I guess that's her name, ran out past Tark, without a second thought about her duty to protecting me. What a Bitch. I hop out of my seat and high five Tark. "Shall we go then?", I ask. "After you" he responds, performing an overdramatic bow. I take him up on his offer and begin walking calmly out to the front of the school. As we exit the front doors I see that there actually is a fight happening on the field, and it appears that some people have been injured already by the looks of the red stained sand. Good I think. The more of them that get injured, the less I have to deal with. And if they had to get injured so that Tark could get him out of detention even better.

I begin walking a little faster now that I am out of sight of the school. I feel a weight release from me, as it always does, now that it is only me and Tark, and we are almost to the dark solitude that the forest of 7 provides. I consider this for a second before turning to look at Tark. "Try and catch up Idiot", I say as I stick out a foot, sending him sprawling into the dirt. I laugh, and increase my speed further. He may be my friend, but it's still hilarious to see him fall. He'll be fine, he always is.

 **District 10 Male: Sterling Devlay, 13**

The steady creak of my rocking chair keeps me calm as I stare down from my porch over the seemingly endless pastures my family owns. My life up to this point has been entirely within these fences, with my sister and my parents, and my animals. I can't imagine anything greater. My cat lily appears, meandering down the path that leads to my front steps, her brown fur looking golden in the afternoon light. I call too her, and she jumps up into my lap and begins to purr when I pet her soft fur.

I grab the book that I had been reading for the last several hours and fold down the corner of my page so that I can remember where I was. I must have read this book ten times, but every time I notice something new, so it never gets old. I set the book down on the wooden floor of the porch and continue rocking back and forth in my chair, petting Lily. Pretty soon after, something else catches my. It's my sister walking up the path towards me. I greet her with a smile and she waves as she walks up the steps. Lily jumps out of my lap and runs towards her, rubbing hard against her leg.

"Hi Sterling, how was your day?", my sister asks. "Great", I respond. "I've pretty much been sitting here the entire time reading. How about you?". She thinks reaches down to pet lily behind the ears, and says, "Perfect actually, I was out by the lake earlier with my friends and went swimming, and then I headed into town and did some shopping". She lifts a bag to show me what she got. "I've got to go get cleaned up now, so I'll see you at dinner ok?" "Ok", I say back, and she heads inside, Lily following close behind.

I stand up from my chair now that I'm done reading and Lily has left, and I head inside as well to set the table for dinner before mother has to ask me to do it. I grab everything we need and set the table, all the while smelling the delicious aroma coming from the oven in the kitchen. I sit down at the table at my designated spot and wait. Pretty soon my sister will come down, my mother will take the food out of the oven, and my father will come back from tending the herd, and we can all eat as a family. And everything will be perfect.

 **District 4 Female: Lea Morgan, 18**

I draw my sword and looked at my surroundings. Across the room there are 4 men, each with their various weapons drawn. I give them a wicked grin, and dare them to best me. A blue light flashes, accompanied by harsh buzzer, and the 4 men charge forwards. The First man arrives, swinging his axe in a devastating overhead arc, which I deftly sidestep, and then follow through by slashing my sword clear through his sternum. I roll to the right as the second arrives, and send a quick kick into his leg, shattering it and causing him to crash into the third. I hop deftly to my feet and face my fourth opponent, legs squared into fighting stance. However for some reason he doesn't appear to be moving….

I relax myself, disappointed, and walk over to the fourth training dummy. A red light is flashing next to the Beige oval that represents a human. I curse loudly, and severe the head of the faulty dummy with a swing of my blade, sending it rolling across the floor.

A smattering of applause starts from behind me, along with some scattered whistles and cheers. I whip my head around to see a congregation of students and instructors from the academy has formed, watching my performance. I sheathe my sword in one fluid motion, glaring at the crowd, and turn my back to them once again. These people think this is a joke, they don't deserve my attention. The cheers are still coming as I ignore them and walk towards the change rooms to get cleaned up.

I enter the change room, and a small smile touches my lips. Even though I am not seeking it, the praise of my trainers and classmates pleases me. Of course, I don't need validation, but it's good to know that they can appreciate my talents for what they are: Extraordinary. For the last few months since I was picked to be our district's representative, the praise has been constant. The culmination of my years of training and hard work have paid off exactly as they should have, especially considering the weakness of the other students.

The door of the change room opens and a trainer, molly, pokes her head through just as I finish tying my shoes.

"Awesome job today Lea", she says excitedly. "Make sure you head right home so you can get some rest before tomorrow"

She shuts the door again before I can reply. The smile returns to my lips again. When I enter the arena I will create history. Not only will I win, but I will be the most memorable victor anyone has ever seen, and then the praise would never end. The tributes in the arena will learn that I am the one to be feared, or they will perish at my hand. And it will all start tomorrow, at the reaping.

 **Thank you to everyone that has submitted a tribute so far. We still need 18 more, so submit away!**

 **Reservations last 3 days!**

IciclePower33 – Sterling Devlay D10

Laurenyeeann – Lea Morgan D4

Unfortunatebamboo – Alyssane hartshaw D9

MonkeyPower435 – Leonis Rankit D7


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